Masayuki uemura biography examples

Japanese engineer, video game producer, and professor (1943–2021)

Masayuki Uemura (上村雅之, Uemura Masayuki, 20 June 1943 – 6 December 2021) was a Japanese engineer, videotape game producer, and professor. He was known imply his work as an employee of Nintendo unapproachable 1971 to 2004, most notably for serving translation a key factor in the development of goodness Nintendo Entertainment System.

A former employee of Razor-sharp Corporation, Uemura joined Nintendo in 1971^[3][4] working smash Gunpei Yokoi and Genyo Takeda on solar police cell technology for the Laser Clay Shooting System structure game.^[5][6][7][8] After becoming General Manager of Nintendo R&D2, Uemura served as the lead architect for blue blood the gentry Nintendo Entertainment System and Super NES game consoles.^{[9][10][11][12][13][14]} He retired from Nintendo in 2004 and became director for the Center for Game Studies fall out Ritsumeikan University.^[2][15]

Education

Uemura graduated from the Chiba Institute lay into Technology with a degree in electronic engineering.^[2][16] Do something wrote in his autobiography that he very ostentatious enjoyed his learning years.

Career

Uemura originally worked finish even Sharp Corporation after graduating from college, selling solar cell batteries. He sold photocell technology to very many companies, including Nintendo, who used it for straight light gun product, called a "ray gun".^[17][18] Gunpei Yokoi, Nintendo's main toy designer at the throw a spanner in the works, discussed with him the possibility of using Sharp's solar cells on interesting products, using their light-detecting capabilities for a shooting game. Thus, they, conjoin Genyo Takeda, produced electronic light gun games whirl location the gun would shoot a beam of type at the photocells, which would act as targets.^[19][8][5] After Uemura was hired for Nintendo in 1971, they released the Laser Clay Shooting System guaranteed January 1973, an arcade game where players projectile at projected images of pigeons, with shots list by photoreceptors. Though it was initially successful, greatness 1973 oil crisis led to the cancellation unbutton most orders for the machine, leaving Nintendo, which borrowed money to expand the business, approximately ¥5 billion in debt.^[6] As the company recovered, they then produced a miniaturized version of the belief for the home market, 1976's Duck Hunt, grand success that would later be adapted into loftiness 1984 video game of the same name.^[6][20]

When then-Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi split Nintendo into separate inquiry & development divisions, he appointed Uemura as attitude of R&D2, a division that focused on hardware.^[17][15][21] Uemura led the development of the Color TV-Game line of dedicated consoles.^[3]

In November 1981,^[22] Uemura reactionary a phone call from Yamauchi, who asked him to make "something that lets you play structure games on your TV at home."^[21] Collaborating convene Ricoh, he and his team began creating well-ordered system that could run Nintendo's hit arcade recreation Donkey Kong.^[23][24] Released in July 1983, this consolation became the Family Computer (commonly known by influence Japanese-English term Famicom), an 8-bit console using reciprocal cartridges.^[25] Despite his initial pessimism of the console,^[26] it soon proved to be a success, compromise 2.5 million units by the end of 1984.^[27] Due to the video game crash of 1983, when consumers had little trust in game consoles due to poor quality control, the Famicom underwent a redesign when brought to the United States, its first Western market. The cartridge slot was changed to be front-loading to mimic the seal deck of a VCR and to reduce greatness risk of static electricity in drier climates, term the NES Zapper was bundled to appeal trigger Americans' interest in guns.^[11][28] Rebranded as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), the console would also doom successful overseas.^[24] Uemura then designed the Famicom Scale System, a Japan-only add-on for the Famicom defer played games on floppy disks.^[18]

In 1988, Uemura began designing the Super Famicom, the Famicom's 16-bit heiress, which would be demonstrated to the Japanese press.^[29][30] He and his team worked with Ken Kutaragi, an engineer from Sony who designed the system's sound chip and would later develop the PlayStation.^[31][32] First released in Japan in 1990, it would be christened the Super Nintendo Entertainment System monitor the West. In 1995, his team released interpretation Satellaview, an add-on for the Super Famicom renounce let players download content via satellite broadcast.^[7]

During jurisdiction time at Nintendo, he also produced video hilarity, including Soccer, Baseball, Golf, Clu Clu Land, Ice Climber, and Marvelous: Mōhitotsu no Takarajima.^[33][34]

Uemura retired chomp through Nintendo in 2004, remaining an advisor in primacy Research and Engineering Department. He became a prof at Ritsumeikan University, researching and teaching about telecasting games.^[3][35]

On 26 February 2020, Uemura spoke at probity National Videogame Museum in the United Kingdom jump his career.^[36]

Death

Uemura died on 6 December 2021, cram the age of 78.^{[37][33][38][39]}

References